New episode of 24 Hours in A&E: Legacy
The RTS award-winning documentary series returns for a twenty sixth series following patients treated in the same 24-hour period at St George’s in southwest London. The hospital has one of the busiest A&E departments in Britain – a place where stories of life, love and loss unfold every day.
This episode looks at our accomplishments and our experiences and how they shape the people we become and ultimately the legacies we leave behind.
It’s a busy day in Resus for Emergency Care Nurse Tim who is juggling beds with the steady flow of new patients into the department. Tim reflects on his role and describes the huge impact his father, a GP, had on his life through his altruistic and patient nature, before he tragically died of brain tumour.
82-year-old Pamela is blue-lighted to St George’s with suspected sepsis. Daughter Lisa is waiting for news. She had been caring for her mum since she’d been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Doctors are concerned about the extent of the infection and sensitively discuss next steps with Lisa in the event of her mother becoming more unwell. Lisa paints a picture of Pamela in her early years as a lively, fun-loving woman managing a West End club before becoming a loving mother and wife. Lisa recalls the moment when her sister was suddenly hospitalised with a blood disorder, and the terrible grief that struck their family.
Meanwhile, Emergency nurse practitioner Maria is treating 27-year old Theo who has hurt his knee playing football. Maria reveals that her ambition to become a nurse began when she was just five years old. After exploring a plethora of different specialisms, she settled on a career in Emergency medicine which she has been doing for 28 years.
A day that Maria will never forget is the 1988 Clapham Rail disaster, where she faced multiple casualties from a single incident – a scale she’d never experienced before.
